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Monday, 8 April 2013

The wonderful world of Lego and building Children's Creative Development

We were very lucky here at Love Being a Mummy Blog as we were sent a lego set from our fabulous Parenting broadcast blogger network Markettiers4dc. Annabelle is almost 4 and the only time she has played with Lego was at legoland.
Apparently there are 80 lego bricks for every person on earth! Crazy! I am sure we will have more than that when my boys are older!

We got sent #80LEGOBricks and a brilliant Lego storage box! Which every house needs, lego is like dummies and socks, disappears out of nowhere! Do you agree?

The task set was to create a copy of a lego fish,, which I have to admit looks a lot harder than you would first think. Annabelle loved separating the colours and counting them. We really wanted to make the fish shown, but we couldn't. Why? I have 3 children under 4 and feel that lego is for the child not the parent only. Lego is about being creative and being inspired.

I thought that maybe my 6 year old brother Harrison would be able to do it as he loves making lego characters. He was so excited to make the fish until he took one look at the picture, after hearing there were no instructions looked unimpressed, got up and started playing with something else. This made me sad that he felt that he couldn't play with the lego if he couldn't make what was given to create.

Next time he came around after I had time to think about the lego fish I thought, children learn through play at that age, they need to use their imaginations and be creative. I was a nursery nurse and have had work experience in schools and its great to watch the interaction between children and the language they come out with. Yes adult led play can be great when you don't have a crying baby and a 2 year old that wants to join but is just not quite at the right stage. You need quiet and a calming atmosphere for lego construction.

I asked Annabelle and Harrison is they wanted to design their own Lego fish and they shouted 'yes' and they became excited and engaged. I sat and watched as they both interacted with one another, taking turns and sharing ideas. Harrison is 6 and as Annabelle is 3 she was learning from him, she was learning how to build with lego. It was lovely to watch the difference in their attitudes and concentration. I had made the right decision.

Here is their creation...

Annabelle and Harrison had so much fun together playing with the lego and I am sure they will carry on creating.